Chickens!Return to sustainability. menu

	January 12, 2010 Here is Mats chicken tractor. Lets see the chickens......
	Here they are!!! They look like their doing well. Still laying eggs. Updated by Clare

	December 22 2009 Here is Mats chickens staying warm.
	Here they are again. Eating their food. Updated by Clare

November 24 2009   Here is Mat letting the chickens out to play. Updated by Clare

	November 10 2009 Ginger is losing her feathers.
	Stripes hiding behind a goldenrod plant. updated by Clare

	Well Stripes and Ginger are still here! Seems Paul is on Holidays.... but he will have many more chicken coops to close now that they are proliferating in our municipality!
	April 20, 2009 Now there is two contented girls in the chicken pen.
	April 14, 2009. Well the chickens are still here... no letter from our chicken inspector Paul Greoneveld yet.... but I do notice that there are a few more chicken coops up in the township! The chickens seem very happy.. and they do produce eggs! If only people looked at the place where the store eggs came from they would never eat another chicken egg again! It is important to know where and how your food is grown! Inexpensive is not an issue here!.

January 1, 2009. The chickens have been a real success! I let them out when I am in the yard and they run around really enjoying everything. Each day I bring in fresh water.... sometimes it has frozen too and some grain. I have even been know to hold a piece of kale for them to chew on. They have been great pets and even the cats enjoy watching them and following them around. I haven't heard from Paul Groeneveld at all. I wonder if he has made up that new bylaw that will finally get rid of my chickens!I am planning on a presentation to council in the next two weeks...I have been told good luck!

	Hey where is the ice cream? These gals always greet me and yes I do pet them!
	OK where are the chickens? Well they do not come out with snow on the ground so I give them room service.. fresh water and grain daily!
	so here is the coop on January 1, 2009.

October 22, 2008 CHICKEN WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED!!!

None of my letters have been answered by the municipality so I have gone public. Today I finished a letter to Paul Groeneveld and sent copies to local newspapers. I was pleased to see and article by Bev Wagar on the Vienna Cafe with an open letter to Mark Taylor. This is worth reading!

October 2 , 2008 Well the municipal meeting was a disaster for me. I did manage to give a talk but all three councilors present where very much against any chickens in the village. This was a disappointment for me. The only person who seemed somewhat interested and asked good questions was the Mayor Lynn Acre. She actually asked if there was a specific problem in the compliant registered against me and ofcourse the answer was "no" from Paul. It appears that none of the councilors understand the nature of what the future of Port Burwell could be with rising unemployment and no year round year businesses in Burwell where people can walk to work nor do they understand that the food produced by most chicken farms is inferior to what I can do in my own back yard.

Read mats presentation to council

Oct. 1, 2009 I have just sent out an email to let people know of the Thursday meeting regarding the keeping of chickens in Port Burwell

October 1, 2008 Wednesday. I phoned Paul on Monday twice I was told that he was busy and I could hold. I help for a long time and eventually decided to leave a message to call me. After a few hours I got no call back and was able to call again and get Paul. I asked him if there was any progress on the chickens, and his reply was that he was having a lawyer look at the bylaw. I again asked him what exactly was the complaint against the chickens and again he did not have anything.

Is this is the bureaucracy I have to fight? I actually thought they were there to help us and if any employee has to enforce a bylaw I would hope that they had a good idea why the bylaw was being enforced. And that it takes a lawyer to interpret a law is absurd! Any good employee should question an enforcement and actually look for good reasons as to why the law is there. Just because Paul thinks that chickens are not allowed, has no copy of the law to give me, does not know the law, and has no real reason for enforcing the bylaw is absurd to me.

Sept. 15, 2008. Paul came by today from the Bayham municipality to inform me that I could not have chickens in Port Burwell. I asked him the reason why and he said because "the law said so". But surely if there is a law there must be a good reason for not allowing chicken. They are quieter than a dog are very friendly to everyone, eat all kinds of insects and kitchen scraps so they do not go into the land fill.

Here is the bylaw sent to me...

2.124 Livestock shall mean farm animals, kept for use, for propagation, or intended for profit and includes dairy and beef cattle, horses, swine, laying hens, Chicken and turkey broilers, Turkeys, goats, geese, ducks, Mink and Rabbit but excluding animals such as pets raised or housed for recreational or hobby purposes.

My reading of the above says that chickens kept as pets as a hobby is fine. But if this is not the interpretation then anyone having a rabbit as a pet is now breaking the law.

Read my reply to Paul Groeneveld's visit:

	And Paul Groeneveld wants to take my pet away! Could you please tell me personally what you object to in my having a pet chicken???? She is cuddly really! Paul if you are afraid of chickens I can help you because that how I felt before I got to know about chickens.
	The Gang making apple cider -Gynne, Stephan, Jazmin and Serena. .......Oppps and ofcourse Ginger the chicken!
	Sept. 15, 2008 . Paul came by today from the Bayham municipality to inform me that I could not have chickens in Port Burwell. The kids where outraged at the thought of not being able to visit with the chickens anymore. Thats Jazmin in the chicken coop holding Ginger. She is wildly excited about the chickens and comes almost everyday to see them and play with them.
	After school a number of kids come over to play with the chickens. They are real pets and allow themselves to be picked up. The kids felt at first more comfortable picking up the chickens with Gloves but they soon came off so they felt the very soft feel of the feathers.
	Sept. 12 2008 This is Jazmin who has finally mustered enough courage to hold Ginger. I feel it is very important to educate children in the care of chickens. It is new to me as well so we all have a lot to discover. While at the moment keeping chickens is not a pressing need for most I feel that to be prepared and have the experience of keeping chickens is most vital and will be a necessary part of our future.
	More neighbourhood kids feeding the chickens. The children are very curious as to what to feed them.... they gladly gather up bugs, tomatoes and whatever else to feed them. The chickens now have names.. ginger and Stripes as named by Jazzman and Stephan.
	If you want happy chickens you have to write things on the walls!
	Mother hen in the coop?
	Mary and Rosella painting in the nesting box area.
	Sept. 4, 2008 Wheels at rest after moving the chicken tractor
	This is with the wheels engaged so that the chicken coop moves like a wheel barrow.
	Wheels at rest position.
	Sept. 3, 2008. Neighbourhood kids visiting the chickens. Now they know that the chickens like all kinds of bugs and feed the chickens those tid bits! Now why don't adults visit the chickens??? Sorry I forgot that eggs come from grocery stores from chickens that are fed all manner of chemicals and do not get to see sunshine outside their confined cages...... so thats why we cannot have chickens in our back yards!!!
	And despite the rough time I gave the gals we parted friends and one day one of them will remember giving mat a very sore red nose!
	Yes even a little time for having fun when Mat wasn't being his typical slave driver self!!! Brittany with her feet out the chicken door!
	Chicks in the coop!
	The gals helping one another!
	Sept. 1, 2008. Thats the gal who started it all... Rosella. Here she is sawing the 2x2 fro the roof. Yes it was hard to learn how to saw but a skill worth having.
	Sept 1, 2008. Rosella brought her friend Brittany along to help build her hen house. those gals really did do a lot of sawing and screwing the structure together.
	These are the chickens that Sean loaned me.... I'm getting one egg a day which is just enough for the moment. Any more and I'll haveto start pickling them. they do not like fresh squash but will eat zucchini and really like fresh corn! I have a lot to learn.
	View from above!
	The other side of the coop.
	A finished Chicken tractor... and yes Dusky the cat was interested in the new birds
	More detail of the nesting box.
	August 16, 2008 -Progress on the chicken pen
	Now how is that for a colourful bird!!! yes a bantam!
	Most of the birds where roosters but we did find egg layers too and people contacts for more information and help in getting birds.
	This is Rosella at the Aylmer Fair where we went to investigate chickens! Rosella does the academic stuff... I'm in charge of the building project!
	This is the start of my Nesting box which will sir on top of the chicken tractor.